This is not breaking news (unless your news cycle is more geological), but it strikes me as relevant on the day that I deliver my penultimate lecture in the newly-created ethics module in the Introduction to Engineering class at my university:
Can you trust an ethicist to behave ethically?
Category Archives: Passing thoughts
Temptations that might become irresistable
… as a result of the incessant drive to make learning too darn safe.
Not that this is a terribly new development (I wrote about this sort of thing here and here), but it appears that anxieties about terrorists and meth-labs are sucking all the chemically goodness out of chemistry sets:
Current instantiations are embarrassing. There are no chemicals except those which react at low energy to produce color changes. No glass tubes or beakers, certainly no Bunsen burners or alcohol burners (remember the clear blue flames when the alcohol spilled out over the table). Today’s sets cover perfume mixing and creation of luminol (the ‘CSI effect’ I suppose).
The Stemwedel Index of Luddite nature.
Over at The World’s Fair, David Ng dangles another meme before us:
… this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What’s that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively. Then have a go at your own blog. If all goes well, I’d like to create a page at the Science Creative Quarterly, that collects (and links to) the good ones.
Since it is well known that I am a tremendous Luddite, it will come as no surprise that my scientific eponym is a measure of how tremendous a Luddite one is. I give you the Stemwedel Index of Luddite Nature:
A plea to vote in the Weblog Awards poll
… despite the fact that I’m deeply suspicious of claims that getting the most votes is truly indicative of being the best.
Anyhow, the category in which your vote might make a real difference (here at the last minute) is Best Science Blog:
I’m a big fan of In the Pipeline, Bootstrap Analysis and Invasive Species Weblog (and I hear that “Pharyngula” guy is a good read), in terms of the maximization of quality and “electability”, I urge you to vote for Bad Astronomy.
Cast your vote now, before it’s too late!
InaDWriMo: help me get writing!
Via ScienceWoman, I learn that there’s a month for those of us who aren’t ready to write a novel, namely, International acaDemic Writing Month.
I am so there.
Back when I was disserting (the second time) a bunch of us who were at the stage of our studies where it felt like we ought to be getting serious writing done formed a kick-in-the-butt club. We met roughly twice a month (possibly weekly for certain stretches, if I’m remembering correctly), talked about what we had accomplished since the last meeting, brainstormed ways to face down writer’s block, and most importantly, we set goals for what piece of writing we would accomplish by the next time we met.
Making the goal public, at least within our group, meant that we had to do our best to actually meet them. (It also meant that our fellow dissertation-writers could talk us out of setting unreasonably ambitious goals and then beating ourselves up for not meeting them.)
Somehow, post-grad school, it’s been harder to find the same kind of motivation and support from fellow toilers. So I’m going to follow ScienceWoman’s lead and make some writing goals for November a matter of public record.
Which means I’m accountable to you all for making some progress with them.
The “I rank number one on Google” meme (and dark mutterings about technology).
David Ng at The World’s Fair wants me to play along before I head to the airport. Here are the rules:
I’d like to suggest a meme, where the premise is that you will attempt to find 5 statements, which if you were to type into google (preferably google.com, but we’ll take the other country specific ones if need be), you’ll find that you are returned with your blog as the number one hit.
This takes a bit of effort since finding these statements takes a little trial and error, but I’m going to guess that this meme might yield some interesting insight on the blog in question.
To make it easier, we’ll let you use a search statement enclosed in quotations – this is just to increase your chances of turning up as number one, but if you happen to have a website with the awesome traffic to command the same statement without quotations, then flaunt it baby! Of course, once you find your 5 statements, pass the meme on to others.
Where I come out on top:
Arcane nerd knowledge revealed: a nice way to solve Rubik’s Cube.
Yesterday, one of the elder Free-Ride offspring’s teammates brought a Rubik’s Cube to soccer practice. While this youngster fiddled with the cube during a water break, I mentioned that I knew how to solve it. I was asked to transmit this knowledge, and I promised to write it up and send it to the player at this morning’s soccer match.
And I thought, “You know, there are probably others who might like this information.” So I made a quick detour to the scanner, and am sharing the very same information with you all.
I’m pretty sure that revealing this knowledge won’t get me drummed out of the Nerds’ Alliance, but I guess we’ll see.
I know there’s a saying about ignorance not being a defense, but who has time to look it up?
I’m sure my jaw shouldn’t drop at this sort of glimpse at the thinking of dorm-dwelling undergraduates, and yet it does. Every single time.
From an article in the school paper about violations of the university’s student conduct code:
Fifty years after Sputnik.
Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite. I don’t remember it (because I wouldn’t be born for another decade), but the “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” heard ’round the world left indelible traces on the fabric of life for my parents’ generation, my generation, and for the subsequent generations, too.
Other bloggers offer (better?) incentives for Blogger Challenge donors.
We’re in day 2 of the ScienceBlogs Blogger Challenge, during which we’re working with DonorsChoose to raise some money for classroom projects. The amount contributed by ScienceBlogs readers is creeping up on $4000, which is pretty impressive.
But it looks like the real competition may be for which blogger can offer readers the best incentive to donate.
I thought I was doing pretty well with my offer of poetry, sprog artwork, or a basic concepts post written to order. (Indeed, we’re already on the hook for an illustrated poem.) But my SciBlings have upped the ante: